Putting a pit band in front of the stage can impose significant problems for house sound.
There are two times of the year where churches especially face new challenges in their audio ministry: Christmas and Easter. Staging a Christmas production can challenge any church tech, as they will likely face situations they don't normally deal with in normal weekend services. Large choirs might be planned when you may normally only deal with a small praise band; instead of one pastor with a lav mic, you may find you need to mic 20 actors, all with speaking roles at the same time—with only 10 wireless bodypacks available.
So here are 5 tips and techniques from some people who have been there and done that. These tips may make your life a little less stressful this Christmas season.
TIP 1 - PLANNING
If when you hear “Christmas Season,” you think about Thanksgiving—you're already running late.
“We're getting ready to do Christmas Unwrapped,” states Worship Technology Manager Larry Leake at Crossroads Fellowship in Raleigh, N.C. “Picture a Christmas carnival, spread throughout our 200,000-square-foot facility, with an anticipated 10,000 people attending. We need to keep it manageable—do-able by a volunteer. So, we're planning now [early August ] for this event. Planning is a top-down value from our senior pastor.”
Leake works with the drama director and creative arts director early on, finding out what directions are being considered. He also prepares an inventory listing and preliminary budget, so that part of the discussion can include what is and is not feasible.
One solution may be to rent equipment to round out your own inventory for the goals of the production.
“Arrange rentals early,” suggests Shaun Miller, director of production arts for Rolling Hills Community Church in Franklin, Tenn. “Trying to rent at the 11th hour at Christmas is hard—lots of other churches are trying to rent as well.” Planning ahead will enable you to determine your needs and get your rental reservation in early enough to secure the equipment.
For those not in a major metropolitan area with easy access to rental gear, a company such as dreamhire.com based in New York City or Blackbird Audio Rentals in Nashville, Tenn., may be able to ship you a rental package.
Another commonly misunderstood problem that requires some research and planning is wireless frequencies. Simply making sure that each mic, wireless instrument transmitter and in-ear monitor system is on a separate frequency may not be adequate for a large number of wireless mic channels. Transmitters can interfere with each other even when on separate frequencies, through a phenomenon called intermodulation distortion. The website http://www.bestaudio.com/Freq_coord.htm has helpful information and resources for working with wireless.
TIP 2 - PERSONNEL
“Having someone with audio experience backstage with a spreadsheet detailing which actor gets which mic system is critical."
Shaun Miller
Technical Director, Rolling Hills Community Church, Franklin, Tenn.
While it's frequently possible to “go it alone” running audio for a weekend service, Christmas may be the time for some extra help, especially back stage. If your Christmas production has enough actors that you need to swap lav mics and transmitters between your actors during the show, you need to train someone to manage this process.
“Having someone with audio experience backstage with a spreadsheet detailing which actor gets which mic system is critical,” says Miller. “They can make sure the right people have the right mic at the right time, and check mic placement, battery levels, mute settings and any other typical problem areas before the actors goes onstage.” Leake concurs, and usually has one or two “mic wranglers” back stage to work with the actors and facilitate communications about issues with the front-of-house (FOH) team.
TIP 3 - INSTRUCTION
Actors may not realize that a microphone isn't the panacea that they think it is, nor will they likely understand the expense associated with the black box on their belt and the little microphone attached to the chest or face.
“I spend time giving an overview of the microphones to the actors,” Leake says. “I explain the cost associated with the system, and proper care while it's in their possession. Things like mic placement for their character; how to properly store the mic when they are done with it; not to wrap the wire tightly around the bodypack (to avoid breaking the delicate wires inside the cable).”
It should also be explained that being mic'd does not eliminate the need to project—voice projection is just as important for mic'd characters to keep feedback issues to a minimum.
Leake also suggests getting involved with the drama team early, sitting in on rehearsals, and providing positive feedback to develop good projection techniques.
TIP 4 - MIC SELECTION AND PLACEMENT FOR ACTORS
For actors, mic placement depends on a variety of parameters
“I try to stick to ear-worn mics as opposed to lav mics,” says Miller. Leake likes to use ear-worn mics, as well. Both make use of Countryman earset mics, and Leake sometimes adds the two-ear extension to provide more stability.
Choosing a mic for an actor depends on the actor's ability, as well. “I'll put an omni lav mic on an actor who has a strong voice and projects well,” Leake reports, “and save the headset mics for actors with ‘smaller' voices, or those with more critical roles.”
It's also possible to bring a lav mic up closer to the actor's mouth based on costume or hair styling, and sometimes a lav can be woven into the hair. “However, sometimes trying to hide a mic just makes it more obvious,” Miller says. “It's like putting a fern plant in front of a stage monitor. Everyone knows the monitor is there—the fern just calls attention to it.”
To help secure head-worn mics, clear medical tape is the tool of choice, but should be applied before makeup to aid in adhesion, and then the mic capsule should be protected while makeup is applied.
TIP 5 - MIC'ING A CHOIR AND INSTRUMENT
Even more so than other audio concepts, mic'ing a choir can be counter-intuitive. A common mistake is to add more mics if the audio tech isn't getting enough gain before feedback. This, however, can lead to even more feedback, and a significantly worse sound from your choir due to comb filtering—an effect where the same sound signal enters different mics at different times, causing some frequencies to cancel out, and others to amplify.
“With a choir,” Miller states, “you're much better off with a ‘less is more' approach. I use just a few Audix MicroBooms and, if needed, provide some handheld mics to a few well-spaced ‘ringers' (professional-quality vocalists) in the choir.”
What will work best for your choir will depend a lot on your room acoustics and how little sound from monitors and the main PA gets projected at the choir mics. Eliminating as much monitor sound as possible combined with a low stage volume helps immensely. “I try to provide a shield between the acoustic drum set and the choir,” says Miller, “and create as much separation as possible between the two.”
Summary
Leake best summed up his advice with the following: “Work with the leadership of the production to keep the scope in line with what your facility, staff, volunteers and budget can support.” While stretching to reach a goal isn't a bad thing, tackling a project that is simply unsupportable can hurt the ministry and, even more so, hurt the people involved.
Editor's Note: The original version of this article was published in 2013. The article was updated for 2019 .
